by Jim Kelsey | Dec 7, 2018 | Opinion
Three weeks into my time at the church, she sat in my office and said, “Dr. Kelsey, you are my pastor, and I will never oppose you in public. I will follow where you lead this church, but I will never trust you.” She had found that pastors are not trustworthy. Several...
by Jim Kelsey | Nov 20, 2018 | Opinion
I still remember the growing sense of freedom as I headed south down Interstate 71 with our minivan loaded for vacation – my wife and young sons securely buckled in – leaving my church and the attendant responsibilities behind for a while. I enjoyed pastoring my...
by Jim Kelsey | Jul 31, 2018 | Opinion
I shoved my passport through the chain-link fence and shouted, “Permesso di soggiorno, permesso di soggiorno.” My two sons and I had arrived in Italy on the previous Friday morning to begin our sojourn as missionaries; Debbie, my wife, would arrive in a few weeks....
by Jim Kelsey | Jun 26, 2018 | Opinion
They were seeking a “biblical form of church government.” This congregation seemed to think that they could achieve this by severing all formal ties with other churches and becoming an independent church. As a Baptist, I am a high-trust, low-control person. I trust...
by Jim Kelsey | May 14, 2018 | Opinion
We are nicer when we journey together. In writing about civility, Gil Rendle (“Behavioral Covenants in Congregations: A Handbook for Honoring Differences”) cites the work of Yale professor Stephen Carter, who argues that riding in a subway, bus or train...
